Fire Stations go Green with New Plan

Donnybrook Fire Station have incorporated a ‘green plan’ aimed at helping the environment.

Conceived by Neil McCabe- a Fireman based in Kilbarrack Fire Station who manages the plan, which started at his own station and was eventually incorporated by Donnybrook Fire Station last year.

The plan includes seven main points such as: tackling waste, growing the station’s own food, reducing carbon emissions, conserving energy, saving water, and enhancing biodiversity through a series of measures such as recycling and using old cooking oil as biodiesel for vehicles.

Savings from the incorporation of the plan are ring fenced and invested in new technologies for the individual fire stations and outreach programmes across the community.

Recently Donnybrook Fire station got fitted with new wooden handmade windows paid from cost savings at Kilbarrack Fire station. The green plan has also been incorporated into the vehicles, also known as fire tenders, used by the Fire Brigade.

“The document has seven themes to become sustainable. I just got fed up with the way everything was allegedly sustainable these days, but nobody took any actions to be sustainable,” says McCabe.

To date the plan has seen 40 per cent of Kilbarrack’s waste recycled. Everything from glass, paper, plastic and tin is recycled. Organic waste is composted and electricity consumption was reduced by 80 per cent by simply knocking off unused lights. Water consumption has been reduced significantly, reducing costs by 90per cent according to DFB, with hot water produced by thermodynamic panels on the outside of the station.

“To become sustainable you take on the two core principles of the Green Plan and they are: behavioural change and carbon emission reduction. What I’ve done is install all these themes and philosophies into Kilbarrack Fire station and I got the staff to buy into my idea,” says McCabe.

The plan is the first effort of Dublin Fire Brigade to reduce its overall costs, due to budget constraints and cutbacks. McCabe is now preparing to incorporate the Green Plan nationally and is working closely with Dublin City Council.